Title

Authors

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2000

Abstract

The expressive practices of Puerto Rican barrio residents in New York -- from leisure activities to formal organizational activities -- reveals how dominant urban space can be made into a community-enabling place. The impoverished area in which the United States has predominantly placed Puerto Ricans is urban 'space', while 'place' is the utilization of that space, resulting in the Puerto Ricans' continuous feelings of home and belonging. I have examined several works by Nuyorican authors such as Piri Thomas, Nicholasa Mohr, and Pedro Pietri to demonstrate the way in which the use of urban space provides Nuyorican communities with a sense of home in such a strange, bustling metropolis. My objective is to discern how literature is integrated with history and social geography -- to do a wholistic analysis of the way in which literature acts in the social world.